Well, someone broke into the Guinness brewery in Dublin and stole 450 kegs of beer. Well, 180 kegs of Guinness stout, 180 kegs of Budweiser and 90 kegs of Danish beer Carlsberg. Recalling an old joke, but that’s another subject.

It couldn’t have happened at a worse moment: just as Operation Freeflow was getting under way, putting more police on Dublin’s streets as a pre-Christmas warning to drink-drivers, an opportunistic thief drove out of the Guinness brewery with 40,000 pints.

About 450 kegs of beer and stout were lifted from under the noses of security guards in what is believed to be the first raid on the historic St James’s Gate Brewery at Victoria Quay along the River Liffey.

It took place as the police announced their Christmas traffic blitz, giving warning that 160 officers would be on patrol over the coming weeks and urging motorists in the traffic-choked city to leave their vehicles at home.

The blitz would target drink-driving, speeding, offences involving HGVs, dangerous driving and people not wearing seat-belts, a senior officer said.

Meanwhile, the lone raider, who has already been nicknamed “the Beer Hunter” by Dublin wags, was driving his own HGV through the Guinness security gates, attaching it to a well-provisioned trailer and taking off with the makings of a very merry Christmas.

Police said it would be difficult for the thief to sell the stolen beer without attracting attention, unless he has criminal associates who own a network of pubs.

Share and Enjoy:

This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Beers, Breweries, News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.